1. Field
Aspects of the at least one embodiment relate to an account management apparatus and a method of managing an account, and more particularly, to an account management apparatus which easily generates a visitor's account to use an image forming apparatus based on information regarding staff and the visitor, and a method of managing an account thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an image forming apparatus is an apparatus that prints print data generated from a terminal, such as a computer, on a recording paper, and examples of such an image forming apparatus include a copy machine, a printer, a facsimile or a Multi-Function Peripheral (MFP) which combines the functions of all apparatuses into one.
Recently, as security has become important in our society, corporations or public organizations have granted accounts to all users of an image forming apparatus to allow the users to use the image forming apparatus with the granted accounts.
Accordingly, a guest (or a visitor) should use an already-created account or request an administrator to grant an account in order to use an image forming apparatus, which cause inconvenience to the guest (or the visitor).
If a guest uses an image forming apparatus with a borrowed account, it is difficult for an administrator to know whether the usage is for management or simply for work by the guest. In addition, account information of the user who loaned the account may be leaked in the process.
When a guest requests the administrator to grant an account, the administrator may not generate the account in real time due to limitations of time and space, and thus it takes time for the guest to obtain the account. Moreover, the administrator needs to delete the guest's account after the guest's visit, which adds difficulty in managing accounts.